SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX027 ARLX027 Inventor W9CSX SK ZCZC AX96 QST de W1AW Special Bulletin 27 ARLX027 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT June 28, 1995 To all radio amateurs SB SPCL ARL ARLX027 ARLX027 Inventor W9CSX SK Marvin Camras, W9CSX, who is credited with the invention of magnetic tape recording, died June 23, 1995, in Evanston, Illinois. He was 79 years old and lived in Glencoe, Illinois. According to The New York Times, Camras worked and taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology for more than 50 years. As a student in the late 1930s, he built a magnetic wire recorder and later discovered that making recordings on magnetic tape made splicing easier. In 1944 he was awarded a patent on ''method and means of magnetic recording,'' the Times said. Camras received the National Medal of Technology in 1990. He was awarded more than 500 patents for his work and they were licensed to more than 100 manufacturers. The Times said that Camras exhibited an early aptitude for building electrical devices, including a flashlight at age four and ''a transmitter'' three years later. Marvin Camras was first licensed as W9CSX in the late 1930s and held that call sign until his death. Among his survivors are his wife, Isabelle P. Camras, of Glencoe. NNNN /EX